TIRANA, July 16 – The Socialist majority in Albania began on Tuesday procedures to dismiss the member of the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania Arben Malaj due to “serious violations of ethics” in his public outings and pronouncements.
In the dismissal proposal document it is said that Malaj has violated the Code of Ethics of the Bank of Albania as “in the capacity of a member of the Supervisory Board, in none of the public outlets has he addressed issues that can serve the public his education or to inform the public about the activities of the Supervisory Council, within the limits permitted by the legislation of the field.”
The dismissal of a member of the Supervisory Council is stipulated by the Law on the Bank of Albania, which provides that they “may be dismissed by the Assembly upon the proposal of the majority of the Supervisory Board members, when the proposed dismissal officer has violated heavy work ethic and has deeply affected the interests of the Bank of Albania.”
This designation of the law leaves no room for the parliament to act without a previous decision by the Council itself.
In order to overlook this, the Socialist MPs had to enter legal interpretations, although the law is clear in the present case. They refer to the Code of Administrative Procedures and bring to attention the fact that the Parliament in the resolution of the Bank of Albania, adopted in May this year, has requested that “the Council review the application of the Code of Ethics by its members.”
But so far, according to them, this has not been reflected in the activity of the Council. Consequently, according to the Socialist MPs, they were entitled to “when a duty is not enforced or refused to be enforced by a law officer, then the power may be exercised directly by the body having the legal obligation to decide on the matter, as per written in the document referring to the Code of Administrative Procedures.
Malaj’s dismissal proposal is supported by 28 Socialist MPs, headed by parliamentary group leader Taulant Balla.
Balla is the same guy who only six months ago provided open support to Malaj’s candidacy for his reconfirmation as a member of the Supervisory Council, even by refusing to bypass parliamentary procedures, which foresee that candidates come before hearings in The Economy and Finance Commission.
Malaj was the only one on December 21 last year to get the socialists’ cards without going through the hearing session, as happened with other contending candidates.
In a reaction to Facebook, Malaj said that “the fact that after the dismissal by Erdogan of the Governor of the Bank of Turkey this may be the second case that the all-powerful majority dismisses a member of the Central Bank Board, only professionally saddened me.”
He goes on to talk about “a pure political action, because ethical violations materialize with the violation of the reputation or efficiency of the Bank of Albania, which according to the estimates of international institutions are not ascertained, but also in the 7 Board meetings during the year 2019, there is no concern expressed to me about ethical violations. The last meeting was on 3 July 2019, “writes Mr. Malaj, pointing out that “in respect of the institution of the Bank of Albania, I will not make any specific statement before the launch of institutional review.”
